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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The man who has run United Tribes Technical College for nearly four decades will now be working to secure its future.

The board of the Bismarck school run by North Dakota tribes has named President David Gipp to the new position of chancellor to focus on the school’s financial future.

“With upwards of 1,200 students annually and over 350 employees, this is a large and successful organization,” said Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall, the board’s leader. “But it’s a new day when it comes to funding because of the shortfalls and cutbacks of the federal government. And with the ever-expanding vision of what we need to accomplish through tribal higher education, it’s very important that the college continue moving forward.”

Gipp has been president and CEO of the school since 1977 and has developed a reputation for being a national advocate for tribal colleges. He said he is looking forward to the new challenge of “cultivating stable and reliable alternatives” to reliance on federal funding “so we can not only maintain but expand services.”

Phil Baird, the college’s vice president of academic, career and technical education, has been named interim president and will oversee the administration of the school run by the Sisseton-Wahpeton, Spirit Lake, Standing Rock, Three Affiliated and Turtle Mountain tribes. The school serves students from 75 tribal nations and has a branch facility in Rapid City, S.D., called the Black Hills Learning Center.